Oxton Kennels

I volunteered at Wild Things (the exotic animal park) for only a few days. I was very excited to get to work with the wide variety of animals but after seeing the dogs in the kennels, I could not return. The kitchen for the food prep for the exotic animals right next to the dog kennels, and I heard all of the dogs barking, crying, and howling ALL DAY. There was no rest for them.
After seeing how stressed and unhappy those dogs were, I vowed to never put my dogs in a kennel ever again. If you are going away from home, please hire a pet sitter or take them to a boarding place with lots of space to run and play. Please!
Also, notice that all of the positive reviews are for the wild animals, NOT the boarding!

We boarded our dog with Oxton Kennels over Thanksgiving and had such a great experience. This is the third time we have boarded our dog with them and based on the happy & healthy dog we pick up at the end of our trip, we know our dog is well cared for while we are gone. Thank you to the staff for taking such great care of our dog and giving us peace of mind while we are away.

I made a reservation to leave my dog there for a week at Oxton after reading some reviews online. I obvioulsy had not read the right reviews here on Unilocal.Most the good reviews are for the ZOO part and mostly BAD reviews are for the the kennel. They share the same location and people think they are the same thing. Map for that reason they got the same number of stars that were meant for the ZOO… anyway… they share same location but are different facilities. Although I have been to the ZOO before and thought it was ok, my review here is for Oxton Kennels only.
We were going to leave town for a week and on Sat night, the night before I I showed up with my dog, her food, a chew toy and a blanket.
The lady then told me she couldn’t have her blanket or her chew toy. Then I ask if she could just have her chew toy. She said «No because other dogs could get ahold of it.» I asked her how that was possible because I had been told she would get her own kennel with no contact with other dogs. So she said they could get it from «under the fence»… So I had to let it go… No chew toy.
Then she asked me what kind of food she ate. I told her I had forgotten the name of it but I had the food in a container with a cup inside.
She asked how many cups I gave her per feeding. I told her I filled up her cup ¾ of the way at each feeding. The lady then wanted to know EXACTLY how many cups AS IN A MEASURING CUP. I then guesstimated about 2 ½. I told her I wasn’t sure because I don’t feed my dog with AN EXACT measuring cup. I just use a plastic cup I’ve been using for years. She was annoyed by it.
I asked her if it was possible for them to use the cup I had brought with her food. She told me «NO». She then gave me the dirtiest look and while shaking her head said: «You can take your dog somewhere else then». She then grabbed all my papers and threw them in front of me on the counter. My jaw dropped. I could not believe what she did. She knew I had made the reservation weeks prior and that I was to leave town the following morning. I asked her what her name was. With the most sarcastic face she declares: «I AM HEATHER AND I AM THE OWNER». I told her I couldn’t believe how rude she was being. I took my dog and her stuff and left.
I have never experienced such rudeness at any other boarding facility nor had any other place been so unaccommodating. All other kennels I had used before had actually encouraged that me to leave my dog with something familiar to her like toy she likes. Another place I used before actually suggested me to leave an unwashed shirt with our smell on it to comfort our dog. At Oxton, the owner Heather will you yell at you for asking if you can leave a toy for your dog to play with. I believe you can only leave a toy only if you get one of their more expensive suites. I am glad I didn’t leave my dog there. I would not want Heather to be (in any way shape or form) responsible for her care while I am out of town. Please don’t leave your loved animals here, find a place with caring people that will make them feel comfortable while you are away.
I am now scrambling to find a place at the last minute that will accept my dog to be dropped off on a Sunday morning with only a few hours notice.

Loud, smelly, dirty are all I can think of after visiting the kennels here. I’ve been trying to find a place where I can bring my cat and this is by far the most disgusting place you could bring your feline. The kennels for the cats are tiny, dirty cages along the wall that look like they’ve been there since the 1950’s. They say they rotate the cats into a bigger cage for exercise only anyone who owns a cat knows that when they are in a strange place they don’t like to be manhandled. Especially after being in a tiny, dark, cold cage that they can hardly even see out of. I’m surprised that the humane society or health department hasn’t inspected this place. The dogs of course have bigger indoor and outdoor kennels. The indoor kennels for the dogs look similar to SPCA. The outdoor kennels are overcrowded and smell really badly. I would not recommend this place for any pet.

I visited Oxton Kennels because I needed a place to keep my 2 dogs over the holidays. I found it to be drafty and overly expensive. I especially didn’t like the fact that they tagged on an extra $ 10 per day Per Dog Fee because it is Christmas time. One final big detail is the fact that they turn the lights out on the dogs at 6 pm and they don’t come back on until 7 am. That is too long for them to be couped up in the dark for me.

I am not sure what their kennel services are like, but I hear wonderful things. This review is for their wild animals tour.
We decided to check out this tour, because you have probably noticed there are no zoos ’round these parts. Sometimes you just need to see an animal that could possibly end your life, so we headed over to Wild Things.
Every time I think back to the experience, I am never 100% sure of how to feel. It was somewhat exciting, somewhat awkward. I like that they are considering turning the place into a zoo and that they supposedly take in these retired animal actors, etc. I liked that the hyena literally got up on two legs and started licking the trainer’s hand through the cage when it saw her, like a little puppy. Makes me think they’re treated right.
I am not too sure how to feel about the cages they are in, but I like to think the animals get enough exercise. The tour seemed a little quick and the tour guide wasn’t too chipper, but I did like being able to feed the elephants and some of the animals like the tiger are pretty magnificent.
Still ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ whether I will re-​visit or not.

The Kennel here is the best we’ve ever experienced. We have 3 large breed dogs and have taken them to several places, and each time they returned stressed out and unruly. Taking them here was the best move we’ve made because now we feel good about leaving them somewhere where they will be treated well. Whenever we pick them up from the kennels here, it is almost like THEY were the ones on vacation lol. They leave happy and calm. Even though we live far away, the drive is worth it to know they are in a good place.

Im both a donor and family pass owner of Wild Things who has been on many of Aja Wafords tours and am forever amazed at her patience and ability to deal with uncontroled kids and their parents on our tours. I don’t know how they do it but anyone complaining about Aja is NO DOUBT the problem! As for the caging and the animals, real animal people see and recognize the happy, healthy content animals at Wild Things and all should recognize their current effort to rebuild the facility and offer the animals more room. All should embrace their efforts and help it along instead of attacking the efforts of this wonderful facility. If you haven’t seen Wild Things, I reccomend it highly ~ to REAL animal people.

This place is a lot better then a lot of zoos as far as getting pretty close to the animals! I took my two boys 1 yo and 4 yo along with their Grandma and we all thought it was entertaining.
As far as the price it was $ 36 for all four of us, INCLUDING the 16 Month Old! So like $ 9 a person for a 1 hr tour is kinda pricey, but I look at it kinda like a donation for the animals…
Anyways they start you off watching a video about the place, which the 1 y.o. got bored of quickly. I would of rather skipped that portion myself. If you wanna know about that stuff its all on the website, and they also tell you after they SELL that video in the gift shop for $ 10. I wanna say yyou get to see at least 30+ animals. We went to the 1:00 tour, but after some people were complaining that the animals were just sleeping and were asking why they don’t have a tour the time the animals are all active the tour guide said they’re 3:00 tour is better for active animals. (feedings are at 4) But I saw on the Website the 3:00 tour is only for 3 months June, July, & August. It did kinda suck that we didn’t get to see all the animals, the kangaroo was hiding in its house as well as some others, and we only saw the alligators butts n’ tails. Which the place nor the tour guide can help, so don’t bother being mean to them about it like some rude people at our tour! Which might explain why the tour guides get burned out. Or our other theory is that they go into this line of work because they’re animal persons, not people persons. So if you go, It’s probably be more worth it to go to the 3:00 one!

I visited the animal park last month and was VERY disappointed. The tour guide Asia was unenthusiastic and very rude! We were rushed through the tour and she didn’t answer questions from the children! The poor animals looked so sad, they were in such small cages on CONCRETE — this has to be illegal! If you want to see suffering animals and have someone be rude to you, then go here! i will never visit again.

Take the kids and drive down to see this interesting place. There are over 100 animals and the home of EARS — African Elephant Rescue. There are summer camps, dog boarding, gift shop and many exotics. Check the website for hours and prices.